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Do Video Games Make Us Miserable? Yes, Says Gaming Professor Jesper Juul

March 7, 2013
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We tend to talk of video games as being "fun," but NYU Tisch Visiting Assistant Arts Professor Jesper Juul will explain why they generally bring us only pain and frustration at the kick-off event for this spring’s NYU Tisch Game Center Lecture Series on Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m.

“We generally try to avoid the unpleasant emotions that we get from hearing about a sad event, or from failing at a task,” writes Juul in his recently published book, “The Art of Failure.” “Yet we actively seek those emotions out in stories, art and games.”

The event, to be held at the Game Center, located at 721 Broadway, is the first in a series of lectures being offered this spring through NYU Tisch’s Game Center, all of which are free and open to the public. Joining Juul to discuss games and failure will be Doug Wilson, PhD graduate from the IT University of Copenhagen; indie game designer at Die Guten Fabrik of Johann Sebastian Joust fame; and Frank Lantz, Chair of the NYU Game Center and veteran game designer. During the talk, the panelists will play painfully challenging games, and the audience will be invited to share the pain. RSVP required.

On Thursday, March 14, 7 p.m. the series continues with Hippies, Hackers & Wargames, featuring author, professor, designer, scholar, and artist, Mary Flanagan. Flanagan will weave the history of computer gaming and the clandestine birth of computer science in with the peaceful play of hippie visionaries, who saw games as a means to get in touch with one's essential humanness. Held on the 6th floor of the Tisch Building at 721 Broadway, NY. RSVP required.

Subsequent lectures will feature NYU President John Sexton, game researcher and innovator Michael Mateas and award-winning game designer Harvey Smith. For more details check gamecenter.nyu.edu

About the Tisch Game Center
Established in 2008, the Game Center is dedicated to the exploration of games as a cultural form and game design as creative practice. Faculty at the Game Center work in close collaboration with other NYU schools and departments including the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, and NYU Poly to educate the next generation of game designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and critics, and to advance the art, science and culture of gaming. For more information, visit gamecenter.nyu.edu.